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Touring

Yeah, hiring a big-wig PR person would be cool, but your band is probably eating PB&J for breakfast in the back of your van with barely enough money to make it to the next show. How do you promote your shows to get people through the door without taking on more debt or asking your parents for more money to help you make it home in time for Thanksgiving?

Let’s talk about wristbands (yipee!). This is an idea I’ve been toying with for a little while after seeing it posted by a few other music blogs around the web, but I haven’t actually put it into practice yet. Wristbands are required at the door of just about every show you’ll be playing, so why not see if you can distribute your own wristbands at the show to get some additional branding/exposure for your band both before and after you’re done playing.

You’ve probably seen venues with custom wristbands before (where I’m from they’ll print coupons for Domino’s pizza onto the wristbands), but have you ever considered asking the venue if you can use your own?Continue reading

It’s still technically winter-time at the time of writing this post, but before you know it, it’s going to be spring and there’s a good chance that you’re thinking of releasing a new album. I’ve read at least a dozen articles with people who make sweeping claims like “Don’t release in January” that quite honestly don’t have any idea what the hell they’re talking about. When you should release your album depends on A LOT of factors and there’s no simple reason why you should pick one month over another. It all has to do with what your plans are AFTER the release. Let’s take a look.

Touring is vicious to first timers. There’s no guidebook that comes with your van about how to handle problems you encounter on the road, nor is there a list that’s set in stone about you should and shouldn’t bring with you. All of the wisdom in the world won’t replace hands-on experience. Having said that though, these are a few things you can keep in the back of your mind to help make the first few weeks on the road much easier mentally and physically. By no means is this a comprehensive list of touring tips, but it should be enough to get you started.

You’re Going to Fight

Starting with the obvious, let’s talk about fighting. Being in a van with the same group of people for weeks on end is tough, no matter how good of friends you might be back at home. Before any tour, remember to take deep breaths and relax your nerves. Know that fighting will happen and that tensions will be high. Keep calm and carry on. It’s the only way everyone will make it back home in one piece.

Underwear and Socks

It’s super easy to wear the same shirt and jeans day in and day out, but if you run out of underwear and socks while on tour, you’re screwed. Bring extra socks and underwear on tour to not only keep your cheeks nice and clean, but also to help avoid athlete’s foot. If you get into a pinch, you can turn your boxers and socks inside out to get a “double use” out of them, but it’s not recommended that you do this, as sweat can make it through socks pretty easily anyway.

Tip: Wash your clothes WHENEVER you can. If you see a laundromat and have the time to wash up, you should take full advantage. Who knows when you’ll have time again or when you’ll have enough quarters to spare on something as nice as a washing machine.

Don’t Drink Coffee!

After the first morning cup of Joe, there’s a great chance that you’re going to have to pee within the hour. When you’re riding in the van to the next city, I recommend only drinking water. Tea and coffee, and other caffeinated drinks will flow right through your system and you’ll need to stop for bathroom breaks more frequently than you would otherwise. Stick to water and you’ll prevent yourself from being late to the venue when it’s down to the wire.

Gear Safety

All of the gear that you own probably isn’t easily replaceable. Taking care of it while you’re on the road isn’t impossible, but it takes diligence to ensure that prying eyes and hands don’t walk off with your classic Strat.

1. Get a Trailer: Trailers make loading in and out much easier than the back of a van where you have to fold the seats down. Trailers also have locks on them, so you can still get in and out of the car easily, but a deadbolt will keep your stuff secure in the trailer.

2. Never Leave it Unattended: Under no circumstances should you leave your gear unattended. If it’s locked in the back of a trailer, that’s a different story, but if you’re at a club and are bringing stuff in and out, someone should always stay with the gear and rotate bringing things into the venue. Gear sitting around with no one watching is a guarantee that it’ll get picked up. If possible, offer to watch other bands’ gear while they unload and have them do the same for you. That way you can get offloaded quicker than if a band member is always stuck standing around.

3. Use Walls: When you’re parking up for the night, try and back up against a wall so that the back of your trailer can’t be opened and the gear taken out. You may get a few dings and scratches on the trailer doing this, but it’s well worth it to add an additional security measure to your stuff. Face the trailer against a wall and sleep soundly for the night.

4. Windows: When you have to leave your trailer unattended to eat or to go inside for a few minutes, sit near the windows so you can look out and keep an eye out for everything.

Stay Healthy

Sleep and nutrition go a long way. You probably won’t get to sleep as much as you’d like every night, but try to get as much as you can and stay well nourished. Even if you have to eat a few protein bars to make up for a poor meal day, do it. Take a multi-vitamin daily and stay on top of eating 3 square meals whenever possible. After a while on the road, it’s inevitable that someone is going to get sick. Give them the box of tissues and sanitize the shit out of everything.

Tip: Keep a mini-hand sanitizer bottle on your keyring so that you can clean my hands every few hours. Being sick on the road SUCKS and there’s nothing you can’t call a show off because of it.

Any other tips you have from first hand experience would be AWESOME in the comments below.

A recent article by Last Stop Booking highlighted the fact that touring is now more important than ever. If you have the time, I highly suggest reading through the article to get a basic feeling for how you should be planning your tours as a band.

I’d like to add some tips/ideas to that post by going farther than just giving ballpark numbers and touring radiuses to go off of and instead dive into a profitable tour itinerary that just about any new indie band can use as a template.

Expenses

Before you begin planning where you can go on tour, it’s important to first list your expenses. I recommend keeping an Excel spreadsheet to monitor where your money is being spent and how much each item is costing you on the road so that you can make this a constantly updated process so you have previous data to work from to really hone your touring craft. Some of the most common expenses experienced by bands on the road, both new and old, are as follows: (A sample budget will be posted below.)

Fuel: The most obvious part of any tour is figuring out how much gasoline is going to cost you to go from city to city. To start with, assume that you’re paying the national average of $4 a gallon (at the time of writing, I’m hoping that number doesn’t rise much higher!). We’ll be using this number later on to determine an optimal driving distance for each of your shows.

Note: The standard Ford E350 touring van that bands use gets 16 miles to the gallon on the highway. This number is often less than the EPA rated highway MPG, so I like to round this down to 14 miles per gallon (MPG) just to be on the safe side. It’s always better to overestimate your costs to ensure your budget stays in check.

Food: Food costs are another important factor that you can’t leave out. Being on the road with a box of ramen at your side may work for a few days, but eventually you’ll have to supply your body with some actual nutrition. Avoid eating at restaurants and fast-food places and instead bring a camping stove, non-perishables, and some fruits and veggies you can buy every few days. These can all be kept in a cooler with a bag of ice that costs a few cents at the gas station you stop at to refill at each day.

Average Food Cost: Although it may seem tough at first, it’s very easy to get by on about $7/day per band member. This usually consists of a protein bar and coffee/juice for breakfast ($1.50 per protein bar and a tub of instant coffee + free hot water at most Starbucks/coffee shops), steamed vegetables (Enough broccoli, green peppers, and green beans can be bought for a meal for $1 per band member) and & ramen/rice (less than 50 cents per serving) for lunch, and some form of tempeh/tofu or other protein and vegetable dish for dinner (a can of beans, corn, and another vegetable can be had for about 80 cents a can and can be cooked in a single pot coming out to another $1 or so per band member if you all eat the same thing). Dried fruits can be made very cheaply and are a great snack on the road. I add in a few extra dollars here and there to account for the candy bar splurges, nice coffee trips, and the inevitable “etc” that each person will probably face. $7/Day per Band Member

Merchandise: Although some bands may not be accustomed to doing this, keeping a running tally of your merchandise expenses on a cost per unit basis will help you not only keep your money straight, it will help you reinvest your money at a later date for a new CD printing venture while on the road or back at home.

Average Merchandise Cost: It varies wildly from band to band how much their merchandise costs them to print and produce, but for the band we’ll be using as an example below, each CD they sell costs them $4 to produce. $4/CD

25% Rule

This rule is self-instated and seems to work well for bands that are just starting out. The 25% rule says that out of the money you make playing a show (including the money you make from selling merchandise) you should be able to keep 25% of it as profit. That means that if the guarantee* that’s paid at your shows is $100, $25 should be able to go into your pocket or into the band bank account for future use or to cover unexpected tour expenses.

*Guarantee: Having a venue give you a guarantee is them saying “no matter what, we’ll agree to pay you this amount of money for showing up and performing.”

Example

The band I work with is based out of Nashville, TN. Playing once a week in town is enough for them to hold themselves over before going out on the road each weekend. Although they turn a profit during the week from playing locally, we’ll put this money out of the picture and simply consider what it is they’re spending on the road each weekend when they play out. The cities they decide to play are entirely based on how much they can afford to spend on their expenses and still be able to keep 25% of the revenue brought in by their shows. Confused? Let’s take a look.

On average, the band we’re talking about safely brings in guarantees of $150 per show that they play. And, their $8 EPs tend to sell at least 2-3 copies per show. Although this number fluctuates, we’ll use “2” as our guideline for revenue calculations.

(Before the flack comes rolling in about how $150 isn’t that much to be earning per show as a guarantee, know that many of the bands out there first starting out are going to be hard pressed to even get that. I know of plenty of gigs where $75-$100 has been the norm and when you’re growing, being able to play anywhere just to build name recognition in a place is more valuable than anything.)

How Far Can You Go?

That last number is the most important part of this whole equation. Knowing how much money is left to pay for gas after every show is what we NEED out of all of these calculations. For easiness sake, we typically say that we have $100 to spend on fuel after every show.

Calculation: ($100 for fuel)/($4 per gallon) = 25 gallons of fuel to use after each show.

BEWARE! – This also has to cover you on the round trip portion of every tour. Although you may have earned enough to go 350 miles to the next city, remember that eventually you’ll have to make your way back home. If you’re smart in your plan, you can start at home, play a show, and use the gas expenditure you make at that show’s $150 guarantee to make your way to city #2 and continue the cycle from there, ultimately ending up back at home.

Using this calculation, you can figure out exactly how far you can afford to travel and which cities will be the most economical for you to hit on any given tour leg. Guessing wildly at a good place to go may work for a little while, but eventually the randomness of it all will catch up to you.

Extra Money?

The budget we did above was very conservative in estimates. We assumed that the band was only going to get a meager $150 per show that they play. We kept the food budget very slimmed down and even built in a few extra dollars of “wiggle room” that could add up to a surprisingly large chunk at the end of things if it doesn’t all get spent. In addition, the 2 CD estimate we used was obviously very conservative as well and if the band does well at promoting themselves, this number could jump much higher.

Although extra money could be brought in on a per-show basis, these few extra dollars should also be put aside to cover unforeseen expenses and accidents that may happen.

The great part of being on the road is that things change. Often for the better and sometimes for the worst. Not every show is going to pay $150 as a guarantee and not every show is going to cost you your fuel budget to get to. Having a detailed account of all of your expenses is something that should stay constant though. The sooner you start keeping a detailed account of your band’s expenditures, the easier it will be to plan for future tours and expenses.